On the 32nd anniversary of a first in Saskatchewan Roughriders history, đź“° discussed a second-time occurrence.
Meyers was one of three Roughriders to catch eight passes in Thursday’s 22-22 CFL overtime tie with the host Ottawa REDBLACKS.
The Green and White had not boasted three players with eight-plus receptions in the same game since Aug. 13, 1992, when the Roughriders defeated the B.C. Lions 46-43 — also in OT.
That evening at BC Place, Ray Elgaard led the Roughriders in receptions, with 10. Don Narcisse and Lucius Floyd each had nine catches.
Last week, Saskatchewan got eight-catch games from Meyers, Shawn Bane Jr. and Samuel Emilus. They were the first trio of Roughriders receivers to dial up three eights — Floyd being a running back who possessed multi-purpose skills.
“We’re so talented,” Meyers said on Tuesday when asked about the Roughriders’ receiving corps.
“You can look left and right. Everybody in the room is talented, top down. We just try to lift each other up and make plays.”
Meyers did precisely that in his CFL regular-season debut, catching eight passes for 101 yards. The yardage total was the fifth-best for a Roughrider in his first CFL game.
“It was like a blessing,” he said. “I’m glad God allowed me to be out there to help my team try and get the win.”
Meyers registered the sixth game of 100-plus receiving yards by a Rider this season.
“I’ve been telling you all since camp — we’ve got the guys to do it,” Bane Jr. said. “Last week was just (Meyers’) week. Hopefully we can keep that going all year and hopefully it ends in wins.”
Flashing back to 1992 once more: That was the only other year in which six different Roughriders players in succession reached or exceeded 100-plus receiving yards.
The sequence from 32 years ago featured Narcisse (10 catches for 192 yards, Oct. 4 vs. Toronto Argonauts), Milson Jones (3-114, Oct. 4), Fairholm (4-108, Oct. 11 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats), B.K. Williams (5-109, Oct. 18 at Calgary Stampeders), Mike Saunders (8-214, Oct. 25 vs. B.C.) and Elgaard (7-113, Nov. 1 at Edmonton).
This year’s 100-yard games, in chronological order, have been courtesy of Bane Jr. (5-125, June 8 at Edmonton), Jerreth Sterns (6-112, June 16 at Hamilton), Kian Schaffer-Baker (7-109, June 16), Emilus (8-161, July 13 at B.C.), Ajou Ajou (4-110, July 19 versus Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and Meyers.
That is the Roughriders’ first sextet of players classified as a receiver to assemble such a string. Saunders and Jones, both of whom were part of the six-player rotation in 1992, were running backs.
QUARTERBACK QUERY
Head Coach Corey Mace has yet to announce whether Trevor Harris or Shea Patterson will start at quarterback on Friday against the Montreal Alouettes (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“I’ll make that decision tomorrow,” Mace said after Tuesday’s practice, “but I thought today (Harris) progressed better than he did yesterday.
“I just want to make sure that he feels great and make sure that, when we’re watching the tape, he’s doing everything timing-wise with his guys.
“Even with Shea taking reps against our defence, we’re getting better. Everything happened the way it did and I think we came out to be better.
“I’ll make the decision at the end of the week but so far, so good.”
Harris has missed the past 6½ games with a knee injury.
Over six starts while Harris has been sidelined, Patterson has thrown for 1,554 yards and six touchdowns, with five interceptions. He has also rushed 20 times for 100 yards and two TDs over that span.
As well, Patterson twice made Pro Football Focus’s weekly Honour Roll as the top-rated quarterback.
“He stepped up when he needed to and made some big plays,” Bane Jr. said. “He obviously got some experience of being the starter, so that’s also huge for him.”
LAUTHER LEADS
The Roughriders’ Brett Lauther made the Week 10 Honour Roll by grading out as the CFL’s top kicker/punter.
Lauther received a score of 79.2 after making all three of his field-goal attempts against Ottawa. He also averaged 66.7 yards on three kickoffs.
He added a convert in that game to increase his All-Time points total as a Roughrider to 845.
Lauther is just 18 points behind third-seeded Jack Abendschan, who is third on the team’s all-time scoring list — behind Dave Ridgway (2,374) and Paul McCallum (1,615).
Ridgway, by the way, kicked the game-winning field goal in the aforementioned 46-43 victory over B.C. on Aug. 13, 1992.
